96 A. Gardner Isaiah 65 is God’s response to his servants, assuring them that sinners will be punished, even killed. Further, that in the time of the new heavens and new earth Jerusalem will be a place of joy that will never be destroyed. The promises of Deuteronomy will be fulfilled with God’s servants living long upon the land which God has given them, enjoying the fruits of their labour. As in Deuteronomy, life is not eternal, but, after the inception of the new heavens and new earth the life-span of the righteous individual will parallel that of the pre-deluvian patriarchs. Sinners, however, can still arise in that glorious future age for human nature does not change. Unlike the previous age though the righteous will no longer be held accountable for the deeds of sinners, nor will the land suffer devastation because of them. Instead the sinner is cursed and the youth dies a hundred years old. Recognition that Job 24,18 is being alluded to when it is said that the sinner is cursed allows the conclusion that the sinner and the youth are descriptions of the same kind of individual, one who meets an early death at one hundred years of age. This obviates the need to emend Isa 65,20 as was been done by the LXX and scholars in the past. La Trobe University A. GARDNER Victoria 3086, Australia SUMMARY Isa 65,20 which forms part of the future blessings of God’s servants, subsequent to the inauguration of the new heavens and new earth, is contentious theologically and linguistically. The present paper investigates why sinners persist in the future glorious age, concluding that human nature does not change with the appearance of the new heavens and new earth. Rather the latter indicate that no longer will the righteous suffer, nor will the land be devastated, because of the deeds of the unrighteous. Further it is noted that the usual translation of Isa 65,20 appears not to accord with Isa 65,22. It is argued that the LXX version is to be rejected as a later rationalisation. Instead yk should be taken as the dividing point of the verse and llq recognised as an allusion to Job 24,18.